We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(3) Base Camp
Though his work is admired in a lot of literary circles these days, L. Frank Baum wasn't trying to be a Writer. (You know, the snooty sorts who throw around hundred-dollar words and refuse to admit that they occasionally watch TV?) Everything Baum did was for the kids.
"The story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of today," Baum wrote in his preface. He kept the language simple and the plot moving, making the book a cinch to read even now, a century after he penned it.